In his lifetime, John Lennon, the artist, remained an outsider to the art world, largely because of his fame as a Beatle and how he was viewed by the world as a result of it. In hindsight, that was fortunate, in the sense that it allowed his works to maintain their purity, free from comments and ‘suggestions’ by critics and dealers. He maintained his unique style, untouched by the trends.

John did his drawings with inspiration and speed, very much like how he created his songs. It was obvious that there was a strong, innate need for John to keep creating these works. Most of the time the drawings reflected his mood. Though once, when John was in a dark mood, I looked over his shoulder and found him drawing a very funny picture. Another time, John was in a happy mood, drawing a picture with black humour. Only John would do that, I thought. It was as though John was using the act of drawing to balance and unite his two minds – one, the dark and pessimistic, and the other, the joyful and optimistic. Along with his guitar, pen and paper seemed to have served as ideal tools to express John’s complex emotions.

Now, there is no difficulty in getting galleries to exhibit John’s artwork. In fact, some of his works have become part of the collections of major museums. I wonder what John would have thought of all that. He would have accepted it with his usual wry humour, maybe.

John Lennon’s artwork celebrates human love and communication – two themes at the heart of his contribution to the art of the twentieth century.

These luxury limited edition prints, published by Bag One Arts, Inc. are posthumous editions reproduced after John Lennon’s death, created from original drawings by John Lennon, incorporating assorted techniques such as Copper Etching with Aqua Tint, Lithography, Serigraphy, Copper Etching and Stone Lithography with Chine Colle, Serigraphy with Embossing, and Woodcut/Collography/Serigraphy.

The color editions are a collaborative effort with Yoko Ono Lennon adding the color.

The hand·pulled editions are signed by Yoko Ono Lennon in the lower left hand corner and carry John Lennon’s embossed signature and red chop mark.

The majority of the editions are in multiples of 300, with 25 Artist Proofs.

JOHN LENNON – A musician, song writer, poet, artist, philosopher – not from 2,000 years ago but of and for our generation. The artforms that he worked with were vehicles for his message – human love and communication!

Art was actually Lennon’s first love. He began drawing long before he had a guitar. He attended the prestigious Liverpool Art Institute for three years (1957-1960) before The Beatles became a full-time occupation.

He continued to draw throughout his life. John’s primary medium was line drawing either in pen, pencil, or Japanese sumi ink.

For the past 20 years, Yoko Ono has used the John Lennon Artwork Exhibits as a platform to leave a positive footprint in the communities that it travels to by raising money and awareness for local non-profit organizations. In the spirit of John & Yoko’s benevolence the benefitting charities have been diverse in their causes ranging from food pantries to animal rehabilitation centers to hurricane relief efforts but the unifying factor with all of these different causes is that they are community based and specific to the areas where artwork is being displayed. Through the generosity of John’s legions of fans this program has been able to raise significant amounts of both money and awareness for these worthy organizations.

Over the course of John Lennon’s career, his work as an artist expressed the societal themes that touched his life. Until now, little of this work has been seen in one place. For the first time, John Lennon: The Collected Artwork offers a captivating history of Lennon’s visionary art, from his early childhood to his untimely death in 1980.

Lennon’s artwork predated his success with the Beatles and remained a passion throughout his years as a music legend. During his lifetime, he produced numerous series of sketches and lithographs, which were published starting in the early 1960s. Often surreal and composed through a method of free association, his drawings from this period were widely considered some of the finest interpretive artworks of the era.

In 1969, Lennon began exhibiting selected drawings from a series entitled Bag One. This array was wildly popular and frequently censored due to its overt eroticism. His peace-themed sketches were elevated through their use in antiwar movements, beginning in the 1970s and continuing to the present day.

Capturing his emotional, political, and imaginative energy, this lavishly produced collection from Insight Editions serves as a timeless record of John Lennon’s creative spirit.